Emotional Eating & Weight Loss

Did you start this year out with a New Year’s Resolution to lose weight? If so, what is holding you back from reaching your weight loss goal(s)? I don’t know about you, but emotional eating tends to make my weight fluctuate quite a bit and I keep losing/gaining the same 10 pounds.

Emotional eating is compulsive eating of food based on a person’s feelings rather than based on physical hunger and nutritional needs. A person does not have to be overweight to fall into this category.

Many things can cause people to experience emotional eating throughout their weight loss journey. Some people may experience a traumatic life event, such as the death of a loved one, being in a terrible accident, losing a job, depression or getting a divorce. Traumatic events in our lives, if not dealt with correctly, can cause us more harm than good. Also, you have some people that eat when they are bored.

Whatever the problem is, the answer is not in the fridge. You may need to see your doctor, speak to a therapist, begin writing in a journal about how you feel or find a local support group.

Emotional Hunger:
• is sudden
• is usually for a specific food
• is urgent
• paired with an upsetting emotion
• involves automatic or absent-minded eating
• does not stop when full
• feels guilty

Here are 5 questions to ask yourself before eating:
• Am I going to be happy with myself after I eat this?
• Am I really hungry or do I just enjoy the taste or comfort?
• Is this food what I planned on eating today?
• Do I need a distraction right now to resist this temptation?
• If I can’t resist this food that isn’t on my “approved list” I will limit myself to only a few bites.

Here are 10 ways to overcome emotional eating:
• Replace “I deserve it” with “I’m worth it”
• Drink water
• Drink a cup of tea
• Take a hot shower or bath
• Have a light snack
• Listen to your favorite song
• Read an inspirational book
• Call or text with a friend
• Do a little positive self- talk
• Exercise

Quote:
You can hide the food but you can’t hide the weight -Author Unknown